so The eVaturtUlstT Conipaniou. 
AnotiuM' A'erv neat and interesting 
an-owhead. found througliout O.hioand 
Some Peculiar Indian Arrowheads. 
BY W. K. MOORKHEAD, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
Most all of oiir arelueologists are in¬ 
clined to keep the specimens having 
the finest sha})es and showing the best 
of workmanship and let others, though 
rather rough but still of much more 
]*eal value, pass by unnoticed. This is 
especially true of all who are much in¬ 
terested in collecting arrow points. Per¬ 
haps there is no kind of relic of the In¬ 
dians left us that show as many changes 
and varieties of manufacture as does: 
the arrowhead. I always like to get 
about two or three hundred of them 
and spend some time in sorting them 
over, for I always find so many peculi¬ 
ar ones. The most peculiar, and iier- 
haps the roughest of them all, is found 
near large streams and ponds. These 
were undoubtedlv used to shoot mink 
and musk rats. The Indian did not 
wish to spoil the hide of the game, and, 
therefore, generally shot it through the 
head. To do this (for the skull of 
mink and rats are quite thick) he 
would want his arrow tipped with a 
point that was rather heavy as well as 
strong, and he made one that suits tlie 
purpose exactly. This point has a 
broad top and well delined “flukes” or 
“barbs” so that it might be firmly fas¬ 
tened to the shaft; just below the flukes 
it narrows and also thickens in [iropor- 
tion, and when the jioint is reached 
there is a scale of flint neatly removed 
from all sides, leaving the point per¬ 
fectly round. Then when shot into 
the skull of the game it would not fiake 
off or break, as might the point of a 
common flat arrowhead. Among many 
collections of ari'owheads I have seen. 
1 have noticed but a few of these [)oints. 
the West,is t he barbed war-point;?'We 
have always been lead to believe that 
war points were not l)arbed, and wei'c 
made expressly to become detached 
from the shaft when shot into a person, 
thus causing a slow and tortuous death. 
You will find many bioad and rather 
serrated heads with very prominent 
notches or barbs, which were surely 
used in war. Of course they would 
not become easily detached from the 
shaft, but the barbs being so large, the 
arrowhead could not be withdrawn 
without tearing a great gash, and if 
shot into a person very deep, it would 
be impossible to withdraw it, the mus¬ 
cles closing around the top and hold¬ 
ing it as if in a vice. It is the same, 
principle that makes a fish hook so 
hal'd to withdraw when once in your 
finger. 
Besides these two kinds of war ar¬ 
rowheads there are some which seem 
to have been used in war as well as in 
hunting. Take,for example,the numer¬ 
ous arrow and spear points found in 
the old fort at Fort Ancient. Most of 
them are either without barbs or have 
very prominent ones; there are none 
that one might class intermediate. 
This goes to prove that both were used 
in battle, and the triangular ones being 
the lighter, were undoubtedly used on 
light arrows and shot from light weiglit 
bows; while the great barbed and heav¬ 
ier ones were used by the might}’ war¬ 
riors, and discharged by giant arms 
from powerful bows. Before going 
further I would like to state the reason 
I bring up these Fort Ancient arrow¬ 
heads as examples and why I state 
that there are so many war implements 
found there is because the southern 
